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Joss Whedon Somehow Finds Time to Make a Shakespeare Film

If you presumed the past six months or so of Joss Whedon’s life had been consumed by The Avengers, that certainly would be understandable. Mistaken, apparently, but understandable.

Somewhere between the Marvel film’s start of production in April and, oh, say last night, the director found time to shoot an entire adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing without anyone knowing anything about it. That is until late Sunday when Firefly alums Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher took to Twitter to direct followers to MuchAdoTheMovie.com, which touts “the completion of principal photography” of the comedy.

The announcement and accompanying image raised as many questions as it answered, with some speculating the project may be Whedon’s follow-up to his web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

However, a subsequent press release put an end to much of the speculation, revealing that Much Ado About Nothing is the first feature film from Bellwether Pictures, a micro-studio created by Whedon and Kai Cole. Shot in black and white over 12 days in Santa Monica, the films stars Angel alums Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof as Beatrice and Benedick, “the world’s least likely lovers.” The supporting cast includes Fillion, Maher, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond and Fran Kranz.

“The text is to me a deconstruction of the idea of love, which is ironic, since the entire production is a love letter – to the text, to the cast, even to the house it’s shot in,” Whedon said in a statement.

The film is set to be completed by early spring, and destined for the festival circuit because, in the words of the release, “it is fancy.”